


No Matter the Odds

by homulily



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, also ben isn't evil, but it's not really spoilers i guess?????????, it's an au where they adopt rey ok, this fic is probably better if you've seen tlj
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 18:32:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13059723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homulily/pseuds/homulily
Summary: Han finds more than what he expected when he goes searching for the Millennium Falcon on Jakku. And for once, Ben wishes his father had just done something ordinarily stupid.





	No Matter the Odds

**Author's Note:**

> Based on an AU my friend and I have been talking about since seeing TLJ. Technically, there are no spoilers and I could've written this after seeing TFA, buuuuut it was inspired by TLJ so take that as you will. I tried to be accurate to canon where I could(apparently geese DO exist in Star Wars), but please accept that this is an AU and cannot possibly hold true to every piece of canon. The biggest example of that being I don't really care about canon ages or what year Han actually lost the Millennium Falcon. I don't have any exact years or ages in my head for this AU. Maybe it'll come later? But for now Rey and Ben's age difference is probably ~5 years instead of ~10 years. Also sorry for not tagging Chewbacca cause he's technically there, but I didn't want his fans to get excited for just a mention. 
> 
> May the force be with you?????? And me if I continue writing this????????????????

“This is the last one, alright?”

He called out so the whole ship could hear it.

Leia rolled her eyes, answering back with a simple, “Mhm.”

What had started as an ordinary trip had ended up turning into a wild goose chase. They checked planet after planet, with Han waving off Leia’s glare with a “Come on! It’ll be educational for the kid!”

That being said, Ben didn’t seem to be enjoying himself all that much. He’d already “lost” to Chewie at dejarik 56 times and he wasn’t looking forward to the wookiee gloating about his wins for the 57th time either. He didn’t understand why he had to come on this trip anyways. His mother had something akin to a business trip, a meeting with a senator or a general or someone important. His father offered to fly her there, said they should bring Ben along, make a whole family outing of the thing.

As it turned out, he just wanted to go searching for the Falcon again. Ben wasn’t sure how his father had lost the ship in the first place, but he knew it was doing something stupid. Han didn’t like to talk about it and neither did Chewbacca. Sometimes when they were fighting, Leia would bring it up. They’d yell about it, then they’d stop yelling, and then eventually things would go back to normal for a while. Honestly, Ben didn’t see the big deal, but he couldn’t possibly say that to his father’s face.

“Come on, Ben, we’re getting off now.”

His mother’s gentle voice broke him out of his brooding.

“You’ve never been to Jakku, have you?”

He hadn’t, so he shook his head. What he didn’t say was that he heard it was even worse than Tatooine. A scorching desert planet, with absolutely nothing of interest. Apparently, there had been some great battle there in the past, but now most of the planet’s residents lived off scavenging and trading.

What he found as he stepped off the ship wasn’t any different from what he expected. There was sand everywhere and he could already feel his skin burning in the heavy sunlight. At least on Tatooine, he could entertain himself by thinking of his uncle and grandfather’s childhood on the planet. Luke meeting his namesake, old Ben Kenobi. Young Anakin podracing happily, before he had any idea what his life would become. Jakku had nothing. It probably didn’t even have the Millennium Falcon.

After they landed, Han ran off to ask around about the Falcon, and probably to make a few deals with the locals too. Chewie went with him, leaving Leia and Ben to enjoy their educational excursion on Jakku. His mother started to explain the planet’s economy and place in the galaxy to him, going over the issues of resources and inflation rates and… Politics wasn’t something he cared for. Instead, he couldn’t stop thinking about how much he’d rather be back with Uncle Luke, focusing on his training. Then again, wasn’t that just a Skywalker thing? Always longing for something more, something greater? But it didn’t seem as if any grand destiny was going to save him from this sandy hell of a planet.

While zoning off and nodding whenever Leia asked him a question, Ben spotted something strange out of the corner of his eye. A human, and a young girl at that. The people coming and going from the tradepost were all different species, but all looked to be experienced scavengers. This girl was clearly younger than he was, but everyone around her paid her no mind. She was arguing with someone in a language he was far from fluent in.Trying to remember what those words meant, he suddenly remembered he was still with his mother.

“Ben? Ben, are you listening?”

“Sorry, I- … I’m thirsty, Mother. That’s all.”

When he looked back for the girl, she was gone.

***

A few hours passed before they saw Han again. The look on his face was smug, but there was hesitance behind that confidence as well. He had good news, but… that look also meant there was something he didn’t want to tell Leia about. Ben prepared himself for a story about gambling, or agreeing to smuggle something for someone, or whatever dumb thing his father had gotten involved in this time. It’d all blow over eventually, but it was still frustrating that his father let this happen again and again.

“So, I’ve got some good news,” he said, as if reading his lines from a script.

“And?” Leia asked pointedly.

“Slow down, slow down. Look, I found the Millennium Falcon.”

For a second, Ben couldn’t tell if his mother’s surprised look was genuine or feigned.

“It’ll take me and Chewie a little more time, but we should be out of here by tonight.”

Leia and Ben waited for the rest of the story, knowing there was certainly more to it than that.

“And…”

 _There it is_ , thought Ben. _He probably traded away the New Republic’s ship for it. Or agreed to an autograph session with Luke Skywalker or-_

A girl peered out from behind his father. It was the same girl from the trading post, the scavenger.

“This is Rey. She’ll be coming back with us. Not sure how long she’ll be staying just yet, but we can figure that out later.”

Ben thought his father must have been joking. He wasn’t. Then he thought of course, his mother would refuse. She didn’t. Then he realized the girl must have been someone incredibly important, a princess, the daughter of an old war hero, or maybe the secret descendant of a long dead Jedi master.

She wasn’t.

She was nobody.


End file.
